Pressure’s On: Exploring the Course of Chemical Reactions with ARDUINO and GeoGebra in a Hands-On Science Approach

For the acquisition of scientific literacy, which includes not only content knowledge but also epistemological knowledge, appropriate classroom settings are crucial to achieving this objective. This work presents an educational activity which is combining both the acquisition of content knowledge as well as epistemological knowledge by not only applying typical methods of measurement (ARDUINO-based pressure sensor) and data analysis in the context of chemical kinetics but also discussing results for the planning of further investigations. Since these typical research methods in chemistry are strongly characterized by a high degree of digitization, we first summarized the use of digital tools in chemistry education to show the variety of envisaged goals through digital enhancement. On this basis, we propose a teaching activity that is connecting basic didactic functions of digital tools (learning companion, learning tool, and experimental tool) with a proper reflection of digitally characterized research processes in chemistry. In this activity, we show how digital tools can be used not for the sake of it but to promote a proper understanding of research processes and to exploit the didactic advantages of the proposed tools. We focus on the use of open educational resource software (ARDUINO, GeoGebra) as financial barriers often hinder the transfer of new teaching concepts into schools. We evaluated the activity in a pre-service chemistry teacher course to test its feasibility from the future teachers’ perspective and to explore their openness to such learning scenarios. Overall, the evaluation showed that the activity is well-accepted and seems to have great potential for long-term use in chemistry classes. The article concludes with an outlook of further experiments for which the presented pressure sensor is applicable.